The Fist in the Wilderness

An oft-told story from different perspectives, the history of the American fur trade is here placed within the overall rivalry for empire between Britain and the United States. David Lavender focuses on men such as John Jacob Astor and Ramsay Crooks who learned to exploit the needs and wants of Indian tribes to gain a superior economic position over the British and made fur trading an integral economic activity in early U.S. history. Maps.